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Linux Mint is proud to announce that Linux Mint 5 Elyssa is now available on AMD64 for 64 bit processors.

In the future the x64 edition will be released at the same time as the Main and Light editions.

The purpose of the x64 edition is to offer the same desktop features as the Main edition but in a 64 bit environment. It aims to be as similar to the Main edition as possible. Due to the nature of its architecture, its package base and its origins it defers in the following ways:

  • Linux Mint x64 Edition was forked from Ubuntu Hardy as opposed to Ubuntu Edgy for the Main Edition,
  • Linux Mint x64 Edition comes with a java plugin implemented by OpenJDK, as opposed to Sun for the Main Edition.
  • Linux Mint x64 Edition comes with Xchat instead of Xchat-Gnome
  • Linux Mint x64 Edition comes with Flash 9 instead of Flash 10

More packages are available for i386 than they are for amd64 and the Main edition is also slightly more stable than its 64 bit equivalent. The Main edition only recognizes a maximum of 4GB RAM though and even on computers with less than 4GB RAM the performance gain provided by x64 over the Main edition can significantly enhance the user’s experience.

Introduction to the x64 edition:

We published a mini-benchmark and an introduction to the x64 edition within the release notes. To have a better idea of what x64 can do for you, please read http://www.linuxmint.com/rel_elyssa_x64.php

System requirements:

A minimum of 512MB of RAM is recommended. Once installed the system works fine with as low as 256MB RAM. The installation process deals with 2.5GB of data compressed on a 700MB CD and it can hang or fail on systems with less than 512MB RAM. If you have between 256MB and 512MB RAM you may have to try to install several times.

Download Linux Mint 5 x64:

Europe:

Northern America:

Rest of the World:

Order Linux Mint 5 x64 on CD:

You can order Linux Mint 5 x64 on CD from our partner on-disk.com:
http://on-disk.com/product_info.php/cPath/28_153_240/products_id/519

Tell us what you think:

  • Depending on your hardware x64 Edition could potentially be faster and show better performance than the Main edition. We’re interested to know how both editions compare so don’t hesitate to measure your boot time, and common scenarios and compare them on the same computer with the Main edition. Contact us by email and send us your benchmarks and your conclusions.
  • Tell us what you think and give us feedback on this release by commenting here on this blog.

Changes since x64 RC1:

If you’re currently running Linux Mint 5 x64 RC1 you do not need to upgrade to the stable release. Compared to RC1, the stable release fixes two minor bugs:

  • The medibuntu repositories were defined in both /etc/apt/sources.list and /etc/apt/sources.list.d
  • The default Samba workgroup name in /etc/samba/smb.conf was “WORKGROUP” instead of “MSHOME”

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Introduction

Nothing groundbreaking was planned for mintMenu in Linux Mint 6 but it still needed many little adjustments, so here comes mintMenu 4.1 with the following changes:

  • The search command (which is launched when you press enter after typing text in the filter bar) is now configurable.
  • The menu icon is now configurable
  • In the places plugin, “Software Portal” was replaced with “Software Manager” and now launches the new MintInstall frontend
  • The menu name used to be “Elyssa” and is now “Menu” by default

Also, a lot of bug-fixing and refactoring was done:

  • System plugin refactored (to the user that will look better aligned)
  • Places plugin refactored (this gets rid of a bug that made “home”, “desktop” and “network” take the focus away from the filter bar)
  • Pongo and formatting removed from localization files to make it easier to translate the tool
  • MintMenu now relies on mintSystem to get common data
  • About dialog now shows GPL licence
  • All double capital letters were removed “All Applications”, “All Categories” etc..

Installation

Before you upgrade mintMenu you should make sure to clean your Gconf entries for it. This will make you loose your mintMenu preferences but that’s the price to pay to get the clean new shiny version:

  1. Right click on mintMenu and remove it from the Gnome panel
  2. Open a terminal and type “gconftool-2 –recursive-unset /apps/mintMenu”

Once you’ve done that you can get mintMenu 4.1 from the Romeo repositories, or you can get the debs from here:

Once the installation is finished, you can right click on the Gnome panel and add mintMenu again.

Translations

mintMenu 4.1 is currently supporting English and French. Please help us translate it by following the instructions written on this forum thread:

http://www.linuxmint.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=43&t=17836

Feedback and bugs

Please post comments here on the blog if you find bugs in mintMenu 4.1. Give us feedback also if you like it and if everything’s fine so we can eventually consider it stable and move it down to stable repositories.

Spread the word

We’re trying to raise people’s awareness about the Mint project and we’ve added a Digg plugin to this blog. If you find this blog post interesting, please help us spread the word by submitting it as a Digg story or by digging it if it’s already submitted.

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This is the third attempt at launching a podcast about Linux Mint and this time we want to get something working for and by the community.

We’re looking for:

  • a benevolent dictator for this new podcast. Somebody who will be available frequently and who would be the real leader behind this project.
  • people who want to co-host the show or contribute sections to it.

Once a team is in place we want that new podcast to have its own .com so it can generate its own revenue and develop its own model. Our intention isn’t to maintain this podcast ourselves, but to gather a team who will do that independently.

Ideally we’d like to see that podcast release on a weekly basis and cover the topics we talk about in this blog. We’d like it to be something the community would listen to learn more about Mint but also something we’d listen to to know more about our community.

Ideally we’d like:

  • hosts not to read notes, but to speak and improvise.
  • the format of the show to be clear (know what topics you will talk about before you start).
  • the show to be serious without being formal
  • the show to start small if necessary (don’t be too ambitious),  but to guarantee a weekly release.

PS: It takes one man for a project to succeed so if you’re motivated and confident about yourself, please come forward. Of course the bigger the team the better, but if many people are motivated and if they live in different regions of the World and can’t work together for some other reasons we can help launch more than one podcast.

There are many ways Linux Mint can help such podcasts (trafic, audience, content) and many ways these podcasts will help us as well. Let’s make this work, let’s give a voice to our community, let’s look forward to have a place where we can talk.